This Biotech Startup is Building End-to-End Medicinal Chem Platform Powered by Machine Learning To Advance Drug Discovery

Drug development is a time-consuming, complex, and expensive process that comes with a high level of uncertainty about whether or not a drug will be successful. In recent decades, new drug research and development stagnation has been a significant concern in the United States. Although the number of novel molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reached a 21-year high in 2017, approvals have been low since the 2000s, after peaking in the mid-1990s. 

An increased emphasis on the amount of data might prove extremely handy to improve target identification and simultaneously its validation, and that is where PostEra comes in. PostEra, established in 2019, is based on cutting-edge academic research. The San Francisco-based company specializes in machine learning for the primary purpose of preclinical drug discovery. By amalgamating molecular design and chemical synthesis, PostEra’s technology addresses some of the fundamental obstacles in drug development R&D. 

‘COVID Moonshot,’ according to PostEra, is the world’s most significant open-science drug discovery endeavor, which currently helps lead it. PostEra advances small molecule programs through biopharma alliances, internal pipeline development, and the sale of certain of its synthesis technology through its Manifold web platform. By tightly integrating the Design-Make-Test cycle of medicinal chemistry, PostEra has proved its platform on a wide variety of drug development initiatives over the previous 18 months. The COVID Moonshot program has resulted in the rapid development of COVID oral antiviral candidates, the advancement of several drug discovery efforts with biopharma partners, and the launch of Manifold as an industry-leading synthesis platform.

The enterprise recently received a $24 million in equity financing to help speed its medicinal chemistry and offer innovative therapies to patients. PostEra plans to utilize these funds to progress joint drug development activities, start internal drug development, and improve its medicinal chemistry platform. Not only this, but the business also announced a multi-target strategic agreement with Pfizer to develop an AI Lab, in keeping with its collaborative spirit. 
The businesses will work together to enhance the science of generative chemistry by combining Pfizer’s substantial data and experience with PostEra’s technology capabilities to create state-of-the-art, scalable models that might be used throughout in-house, preclinical drug discovery initiatives and, if successful, could change the landscape of the industry by the optimal use of machine learning.

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